Log pile vs Wasps

[kclark6595]

Now that I am starting to get my wood together, anyone have suggestions to keep wasps out of (or from under) the wood shed??

This is the type of setup I will be using. I dont want to resort to chemical use as this is BBQ wood I will be storing.

Thoughts?

Keith

[MBMorgan]

You might try keeping wrapped with something like plain old window screen. Let the wood breath and keep the little critters out.

[RonB]

You might try painting the ceiling sky blue. I've heard that wasps think it is the sky and won't even try building there ~ Ron

[Huskee]

Ugggh, I shuddered even reading this title. I hate, to the point of being scared like a young girl, bees and wasps. We don't have a lot of dangerous pests in MI- no gators, very few mountain lions, even fewer poisonous snakes- but we have our share of bees and wasps to make up for it I think. My only attempts to limit or stop bees nesting in my wood piles is to try to stack my wood in shady spots. Bees like heat & sun, but shade surely isn't a cure-all. I like the window screen idea since you have that nice little squared shed...but I see that being a pain to secure and yet keep accessible, unless you fashioned some sort of door that seals. A 4'x25' roll of window screen at a Home Depot or similar is about ~$20.

[Tim Clark]

I'm not sure you could ever completely seal it off with screen. Those bottle traps they sell can work pretty well. Where do you live and what kind of wasps are you dealing with? Some of them don't bother you much. The only ones we worry about around here are the white faced hornets that build those big round nests in trees. They don't hang out around wood piles, thank goodness.

[Dewesq55]

Ugggh, I hate, to the point of being scared like a young girl, bees and wasps.

Me too, Huskee! I got stung a few times as a child and now I am terrified of the little demons.

[Huskee]

LOL! I call them that too. My aversion came from being about 7 and getting into an outbuilding at a friends grandma's farm.... a there was a bumble bee nest. Got stung many times and my lip swelled up for weeks it seemed like. Now= still terrified of bees.

[Tim Clark]

Huskee, you can thank your lucky stars you don't have any white faced hornets in Michigan. My wife got hit by one over her eye last year and in a couple of hours she looked like a halloween pumpkin. At least the white face guys don't come after you in a swarm. You'd explode.

[Dewesq55]

As a kid, most of my run-ins were with yellow jackets or ground hornets. Later, I was stung one or twice by white faced hornets. I agree they are very painful stings. Now we have an infestation of carpenter bees on our out building.

[kclark6595]

I am in Southern Illinois, and where these sheds are going will be sunlit all day long. Not sure what kinds of wasps they are, hate them all equally.

Might try the screen solution because I can tack the screen on before I put the outer slats, then fashion a door to go across the front to protect the wood from rain even more.

Heck, maybe I will just run a pipe from my smoker to the pile and just smoke them out all the time. heh heh heh

Thanks for all the input.

[Tim Clark]

Just looked up wasp varieties in Southern Illinois and you've got plenty! Actually I think your idea of smoking them out is the best idea of all of them.

[kclark6595]

Just as an FYI, found this while surfing the web on other questions:

NBS Repellent Insect Spray

With it being non-toxic, and usable as a paint additive, might have some uses for around cooking woodpiles and racks.

[vandy]

The only thing I can say about wasps are that they are very dangerous. A friend of mine died a long time ago when one climbed in his ear and stung him, the corroner said that the poison went straight to his brain and he was dead within about 20 minutes. He was on top of an office building working on an air conditioning unit when it happened. Needless to say since then I am very scared of them. I got stung about 4 times last spring when I went to pull my water hose off of the real for the first time of the season and there was a nest of them underneath it and they all came at me at once. That was scary! Be carefull out there folks good luck with the wasps! Hope you can get rid of them.